Ventures to Be Back After Short Closure

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Category: News

Created on Friday, 06 December 2024 15:23

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By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
    An unexpected notice from the state has led the Sitka School District to close down the after-school program Ventures, but Superintendent Deidre Jenson told the School Board Wednesday the program, for kids in the primary grades, should be up and running again within days.
    The problem occurred when the Sitka School District’s license to operate the program was misplaced after it arrived at the Alaska Department of Health, which was having personnel turnovers, Jenson said. The state called her office on Tuesday recommending the district “close Ventures so that we don’t get shut down because they can’t find our license to operate.”
    “We sent the license; they could not find it. We sent the license to them. We got word today that, ‘Oh yes, OK, good. We’re clear.’ They also have new employees, so lots of turnover and not people in the normal places. So I think we’re good to go,” Jenson said.
    She assured the board it wasn’t a long-term closure, and the program may be back in operation next week. “Hopefully we can do that on Monday,” she said.
    “We’re not closing Ventures; we know it’s extremely important,” the superintendent said. “We just have to get things in line to make sure that we’re compliant.”
    But at the same time, she believes the program needs some restructuring.
    “We need a little bit of time until January to work on kind of getting a little TLC at Ventures to make sure that it really is firm, we’re in compliance with the state. So these are just pieces that we’re ironing out,” she said.
Budget Problems
    Referring to a budget work session the board held Monday, board member Phil Burdick said the district faces further cuts when crafting the fiscal year 2026 budget.
    “We started this process a little bit earlier, because last year was so up in the air, stressful, and we wanted to be able to get an overview, a 30,000-foot view of where we are now and what we can expect,” he said. “We’ll be coming to the community and to the schools with stakeholder input. We’re going to shift our focus a little bit and our presentations and how we budget this year so that we can hear from as many people as possible,” Burdick said.
    In the 2025 budget, the district cut 16 teaching positions to cover shortfalls. A $680 per student increase in state funding received late in the spring filled some needs, but it was a one-time event and not an increase to the annual base student allocation.
    Much more is needed to fill the district’s deficit, he continued.
    “Things are not as dire as we once thought, they’re certainly not rosy,” Burdick said. “... We need to advocate for continued funding from the Legislature. The numbers that we often hear are $340, and $680; I don’t know where they pulled those out of,  but $680 was what was put in the budget last year ––  one time funding. If we get that $680 again this year, we will still be $1.9 million in the hole. If we want to keep our current levels of staffing, our current levels of programs, we would need $1,490 [BSA increase or one-time equivalent] from the state. So that is the number that I would like you all to remember.”
    Blatchley Middle School’s springtime Discover Your Potential program is one of the activities threatened by lack of funding, Burdick said.
    “One sad note is that there will probably not be DYP this year to do those budget cuts from last year. Staff just doesn’t have enough slack to be able to make that heavy lift,” he said. Burdick, a long time teacher and school administrator, is now an education consultant.
    Jensen said the district has received grant funding for mental health training and awareness, and staff is working on plans for how the money will be spent.
    “We were awarded a Youth Mental Health Alliance grant award of $21,000 that is focused on professional development to help students become self-aware, self-resilient, staff resilience, improving student engagement, also advocacy for themselves,” Jenson said. “We’re trying to figure out where that’s going to fit into our calendar. But we’ve got that $21,000 that needs to be used before the end of the year.”
    The district also is working to create a pre-kindergarten program, though that has yet to get off the ground. There was no update on that project at Wednesday’s meeting, and no mention of it from the public or the School Board.
New Business
    In new business, the board voted to adopt an internet phone system for the school district in order to cut costs. The ACS phone bill is $7,183 a month, and after an upfront investment of  $37,180, the internet phone bill will be $1,370, said a memo in the meeting packet.
    “Really, the largest piece is cost savings… We would be saving approximately $5,812 per month. So after about – what was it – seven months, we would recoup those initial one-time costs,” Jenson said.
    “Like with any new project, I’m concerned about indirect costs. It looks good as presented and I have confidence that that’s the way it will turn out in the long run,” board member Tom Williams said.
    The motion to approve the new phone system was unanimously approved by the four board members present: Paul Rioux, Tom Williams, Amanda Williams and Phil Burdick.
    The board also accepted the findings of the FY24 audit of the school district finances.
    The negative findings on that audit are already resolved, Burdick said.
    “We did have a few findings due to lack of internal controls over bank reconciliations, payroll and financial close and reporting,” Burdick said. “A lot of these finances came due to the management turnover… and all of those findings have been resolved at this moment, already, due to the work that (district staff members) have done, they’re always a work in progress while the findings have been completed, some of those standing operating procedures include training of staff, and so that is always ongoing.”
    The audit, compiled by the CPA firm Altman, Rogers and Company, found a “lack of internal control over financial reporting and year-end close procedures” as well as a “lack of internal controls over bank reconciliation.”
    The board voted 4-0 to accept the audit’s findings.
    Members also voted in favor of adopting standards set by the Alaska Association of School Boards. Burdick, Amanda Williams and Rioux were in favor, while Tom Williams was opposed.
    Wednesday’s meeting wrapped up in 45 minutes, as some members wished to attend the Keet Gooshi Heen winter concert.